03102018

yesterday:

EMOM:
snatch singles to "no rep"
clean singles to "no rep"
deadlift singles to "no rep"

snatch: 45, 55, 65, 75,85,95,105,115,125,135,145
clean: 155,165,175,185,195
dl: 205,215,225,235,245,255,265

today:
4 rounds:
25 cal row
25 (scaled to 20) burpees
19:59

skill work on pull ups

m/f/s: 2/4/8

dinner last night: toor dal and a thing of salmon, some ghee
lunch/dinner today: toor dal samlong thing, ghee

bought some mct oil for bulletproof coffee. going a long way towards absolving hunger.

been sober now for 3 months... feels great. goal for this month is not to eat out. giving myself a single token for when fiancé comes to town next week. will stay low carb/healthy

sunday starts more hardcore formal weight loss program.. weigh/measure/reports will dial in

Yesterday: first day at Dallas Strong

10 rounds

100m run

8 push press 35# dbs

every even round 15 wb 20#

time: 15:36

m/f/s (mind/fatigue/soreness: 1-10, 1 being optimal, 10 being rip)

m: 4/4/4

dinner: cauliflour spices ghee 2 rotis

lunch: daves salad

workout: alchemy 7:30 (later than usual... would prefer earlier like 12pm.

emom 7 reps thruster, 7 min

then amrap 13 min
5 push press
10 jumping pullups
15 situps

lots of yoga/stretching

in general a good workout. kept chugging with very little rest. feeling stronger.

day 2

lunch: daves taco bar sponsored by work... quarter end cele

two corn tacos, one beef one chicken
some lettuce
1/4 cup spanish rice
pinch of cheese hold the sour cream

less measured than i would want but will need something to power through the crossfit later.

day 1

Nutrition: Starting a challenge at the gym involving a restricted diet for the next two months.

Gym: Crossfit Minneapolis 17:30

Every two minutes for four sets
1 Back Squat

Then,

3 rounds
500m Row
Max reps thruster (115#)

For reps: 32

Summary: Averaged about 1:45 for the row. 1:40 first one, then 1:45 and 1:50. Felt okay on the thrusters but they were heavy. 12 first round then 8 and 10. 40 would be my goal for next time. It's doable.

trip to the bob

Greetings Friends,

It's been awhile. I thought it appropriate, however, given how I've spent the past week, to do a blog entry.

Last Sunday morning I embarked on a new experience. Backpacking. Sure, I've stayed in a tent before, but never to the extent of spending 4 nights away from home with all of life's necessities on my back.

The destination was a 17 hour car drive away which wasn't as bad as it sounds with 4 friends to share the drive. From the moment we arrived, we began moving into the mountains, an area well trodden by horses and perfect for long walks with lots to see.

Rather than retell the events from my experience, which I think will read better with pictures, I'd like to share a few things I've learned.

1) A tight pack is a light pack -- One thing I underestimated was the difficulty and process of gathering everything one would need in a week's time and organizing that into a pack. If I went on another trip, I think I would be more regimental about my intake of food by relying on a single, easily packable staple. This trip, I had more than enough to eat which I believe weighed down my pack more than necessary. I would also repack anything prepackaged into large zip lock backs -- the less trash one can bring with, the better.

2) Footcare -- Traveling by foot is more involved than it sounds, especially with a pack. My feet are the only thing, though, that held me back significantly. As I write this, I have welts on both of my big toes that make walking still quite difficult. If I were to go on another trip, I would have a sock technique figured out before hand and make sure my boots fit properly. I also would bring band aids and things that help with the unavoidable blister so that I don't have to mooch off of others.

3) Bring a positive attitude -- At times, things can get rough and unpredictable when hiking long distances. With this in mind, all roads lead to a restful night under the stars and any time spent being pessimistic or arguing or anything negative is a detriment to the trip overall. This wasn't a huge burden this trip, but just something to keep in mind in general.

That's my takeaway for the moment. In general, it was a phenomenal getaway. I don't see enough of my high school buddies as it is, and getting together for a week away from the grind was something precious. I learned a lot about them, and a lot about myself as the things we think are necessary back home are too heavy to carry for a trip like this. There's something philosophical there, I think. Something something life without attachments. Perhaps as the week continues I will have more to share.

Drew

training

Birkie is days away now and I'm feelin pretty good.

I've been training an average of 20 km 3x/wk which I think was good volume for me.

I will be tapering into the next 8-10 days and doing one more 60 minutes at birkie pace.

I am drinking more water and less bad things and haven't had a chew (tobacco) in 40 days now. The ball is rolling for the spring slimdown.

measurements

232.2#
Waist (navel): 39"
Neck: 15 1/4"

GW: 180

pretty good day

fitness: opexfit function workout

deadlift to heavy triple: 135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 315

emom12
odds-14 wall balls
evens-14 kbs, russian

emom12
odds-row for cals
evens-burpees

nutrition: lots of water, dave's salad for lunch but will bring from home tomorrow. bacon/greenbean/egg noms for dinner.

happy new year

a1. bb front squats - 3 x 15
95, 105, 115
a2. bb military press - 3 x 12,10,8
95,105,115
b1. kbs - 3 x 25
24kg, 24kg, 24kg
b2. supine ring rows - 3 x 15
bw, bw, bw
stairmaster - 20 min
every 5 min, 25 abmat situps

thoughts: motivated
feelings: excited, on the brink
actions: back at it
m/f/s: 2/2/2

training plan

Last weekend I completed an event I never dreamed of signing up for: the TC Marathon. I'm still not sure why I signed up, given my resentment towards the "endurance" crowd of fitness folks, especially given that my training hasn't been very running-centric. That said, I wanted to spite several people who said that my conditioning through other means (oly lifting, crossfit, etc) would not get me through a marathon.

Welp, I proved them wrong, and 26.2 miles later I finished in just over 5 hours. It was, indeed, brutal. It hurt, badly. It was probably the most difficult physical event I have done to date, having done multiple 100+ mile bike rides and been training for a good chunk of my life.

That said, I didn't really train for it. If I would have, it would have been less brutal. As they say, you get out of it what you put into it... and after that, this motif certainly rings true. While fun and exciting, I didn't "get" much out of it. It even feels odd to me to receive congratulations from people who learn that I finished. Feeling this way, I believe it is time to make significant changes in my life, in order to get more out of life in general. I have gotten away from my days of training early, watching what I eat, and, in general, caring for my level of fitness.

I'm beginning a plan today and starting as simple as I can. One thing I want to work into my daily life is getting up early to go to the gym and break a sweat. It doesn't need to be a gruelling back-busting workout, but the simple habit of rising early has made huge impact in my life previously, so I am going to bring it back.

I will keep this short for now... tomorrow I will be rising early to train. With this small change going well, I plan to incorporate other healthy habits back into my life such as being more mindful about how I sleep, how I eat, and how I carry myself through the 9-5 life that I have not adapted so well to since I was in school just a few short months ago.

Daily report:

• Body: My body fat is higher than I would like it to be. I am not sore, but I do not feel "fit."
• Mind: I think well during the day, but still I am drained by headaches that did not occur when I was training as hard as I used to. At times, I feel I am not in control of my emotions or thinking.
• Spirit: I have not been reading as much as I used to. Nor have I been engaging in the sort of discussion that I really enjoy. I plan to begin regular attendance to church and incorporating mediation into my days.
• m/f/s: 6/1/1

crypto

I've been asked before to write about bitcoin. I'm not quite sure where to start other than a stream of consciousness of why I think cryptocurrency is the logical next evolution of our financial system. Is bitcoin here to stay? Will bitcoin define commerce of the next 1000 years? The jury's still out, though, there is promising signs that shared consensus will soon make it's way into several facets of our lives.

WHAT IS BITCOIN AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

To share what bitcoin is, one must begin with what bitcoin is not. Finding a means of transfering balance electronically is not a new problem for cryptography -- it has been a foundational problem for many years. Starting in the 80's, people began to say, "Let's create a digital class of assets. It shall be a secure means of transfer, it shall be a cryptographically sound evolution of trust."

Off to the races they went. We've had digital means of transfering value for quite some time, but the problem is that there has never been a means of doing so without a third party, that is, transfering value without first validating through a central authority.

What bitcoin brings to the table is a decentralized solution. Decentralized means there is no central authority. There is no FED. There is no uncle sam that says "this dollar has been spent, this dollar has not." The current methodology puts these central authorities i.e. visa, amex, mastercard, wells, name your financial institution, in charge.

But how? How can this possibly be accomplished? Through a breakthrough technology named by the bitcoin protocol as the blockchain. An in depth explanation would involve describing the evolution of cryptography, public/private key sharing, and difficult algorithms that make a persons head spin so fast it's difficult to keep your bearings. Simply put, the blockchain comprises ALL TRANSACTIONS since the beginning. Every. Single. Transaction. To be checked, authorized, validated, by all participants in the network.

This protocol solves two important solutions to two difficult problems: 1) how do we keep this thing afloat i.e. in check and 2) how do we incentive the computing power necessary to keep commerce alive.

Item I: The transaction protocol of bitcoin ensures that transactions are legitimate, that is, transactions have originated from a person who's good for their funds and destined for a valid "address." This is much like sending an e-mail: who did it come from and where is it going?

Item II: These transactions are kept straight by incentizing computing power through a difficult algorithm, illustrated thus by a large puzzle. There is a missing part that must be found in order to legitimize (set in stone) the transactions taking place. In the bitcoin protocol, these puzzles strive to be 10 minutes "hard." That is to say, every 10 minutes on average a "block" of transactions is legitimized, and the computing power that has found the piece of the puzzle (in the form of a cryptographic hash) that cryptographically sets these transactions in stone is rewarded. The reward started at 50 coins, and is halved every so often, currently being 25 per block solved.

WHY? THE DOLLAR, GOLD, AND OTHER MEANS OF TRANSFERRING VALUE WORK WELL. THEY ARE ESTABLISHED. WHAT ARE THE INTENTIONS OF SUCH A TECHNOLOGY.

Not so fast. Where do these assets come from? What is stopping counterfeit? Ownership of these means of transfer is big business. Perhaps it's time we ought to ask who's interests they intend to protect.

(to be continued)

CFE Certification -- St. Paul MN -- AAR

The endurance realm of training has always fascinated me, especially after my initial shift in training several years ago from traditional bodybuilding methodology to focusing on measurable work capacity and function. Broadly, the crux here is that the current paradigm of volume loading (i.e. ramp up in mileage = ramp up in endurance performance) has many problems, primarily being the injury rate of endurance athletes. Crossfit Endurance looks at how we can augment this training protocol by decreasing training volume (i.e. less time per week training, less total mileage), increasing intensity (short, fast) in order to find/maintain the highest possible level of performance with much less risk of injury. What a mouthful. In all seriousness, this stuff is groundbreaking and I was thrilled at the prospect of attending a certification seminar with one of their head dudes.

While I've coached since 2007, I am not properly a "coach" now, and I haven't coached for about a year now. Given this there was two main things driving me to this event: partly the opportunity to learn new things and the pleasure of academic discussion, and partly to meet new people in the twin cities fitness circle. Along with this, my expectations for the event were to explore Crossfit training as it pertains to the endurance athlete and to analyze running technique and endurance-specific training methodology. This post will not serve as a regurgitation of what I learned (PM me for notes, if you wish), but rather a review of several elements surrounding what went down.

Let's break up this bad boy into parts: The Staff, The Lectures, The Drills/Analysis, Logistics/Critique, and Takeaway.

Staff -- The leader of the seminar was Dan Hollingsworth, a head coach at Crossfit Endurance  hailing from Kitsap Crossfit in Pousblo, WA. Coach Dan ran the event delivering each lecture and series of drills himself. His background is impressive having competed in endurance events and being a part of the "inner circle" for many years (notably completing 30+ tri's, 8 marathons, a 50-miler). He's well-spoken and credible and his delivery style was engaging. One aspect that stands out is his understanding of the "traditional" endurance community and style of training. Discussion was never in terms of "us vs. them,' but rather in terms of an evolution and continuance of what they do well and critique of what's not working. While demonstrating command of the seminar, Dan was approachable as well and offered personal coaching throughout the drill progressions -- something that wasn't expected and greatly added to the experience. Lastly, I left the weekend with a handful of stories and anecdotes that will undoubtedly influence how I coach -- Dan's personal touch here made it clear he not only understands the material but cares deeply about the significant shift in methodology CFE proposes.

Lectures -- We covered the gamut as far as content is concerned, covering more ground than expected. The format was well-organized, first laying down a context/framework for what was to come and then filling in the blanks. I never felt as if something wasn't fully developed or left out and nothing really felt out of place. There was adequate time for questions and a sense of balance between story time, evidence, and application. I'd rather not go into more specific discussion here, but I will say my favorite module was nutrition ("Are you eating to train or training to eat?") closely followed by the programming discussion of what makes up an effective/balanced routine. In summary, each lecture left me with a nugget worth integrating to my current approach and overall shaped my perspective of how to train smarter.

Drills/Analysis --While the lectures were neat and engaging, the drilling portion of the weekend was most rewarding for me. I am now armed with a toolbox of running-specific skill work drills that has already influenced my technique for the better. I was especially surprised how simple/fundamental the terms were the Dan used to describe efficient running. I expected more technical terms of articulations and joints and movement patterns (partly from what I've heard about the mobility cert, another seminar I'd like to attend) but even without that the material here was both effective and manageable. Without the high-level tech-talk, I also feel better primed to teach this stuff myself.

If I were name a single element, however, that provided the greatest amount of substance this weekend it would be the video analysis of each participant's running stride. I had never seen myself run from the side before, and seeing this for the first time was insightful, especially given Dan's expert breakdown of positioning and faults. We completed this twice, once the first day and again on the second, with change evident in almost each participant. I challenge any other seminar to demonstrate such a degree of influence in less than 24 hours... seeing this first hand was motivating and makes me (even more than before) confident in the CFE method.

Logistics/Critique -- The space, Side Door Crossfit, was a great venue to host the event. Max was an excellent host offering help whenever possible while also making himself available for any unique needs. There was ample room for us to work and even a track for drill work on the first day. I have nothing really to critique here other than the chairs being slightly uncomfortable (and I would have preferred sitting at a table), but the execution was still just about flawless. I wouldn't hesitate recommending Sidedoor for future certs of any kind. In general, one critique I have for the event is having more of a focus on scientific evidence. Dan was well-prepared with the content and didn't ever have to use notes, but there were several times when he would share a statistic or scientific anecdote and not be fully aware of the protocol or statistic. We all got the "just" here, but having these figures on hand are something that's important to me as a coach when sharing with others. That said, the slides we received point to the direct studies so I am able to look up, for the most part, what I need.

Takeaway -- Even though I'm not coaching at the moment, I got a ton out of this weekend. From the material to video analysis and new friends, the experience was overwhelmingly positive. Huge thanks to Dan for his time and for what he's contributed to the endurance community. To anyone considering attending a CFE cert: you won't regret it. I had thoughts of just scraping their message boards and powerpoints for what would be covered, but having Dan as a resource to bounce idea off is invaluable and along with the hands-on and personal instruction I feel it was a great value in terms of price (especially knowing it's 1/2 as much as the Crossfit level 1 cert). In conclusion, Dan is a rockstar and the this was a weekend well-spent -- the CFE content is ground-breaking and is beginning to influence and define the gold standard of effective endurance training and attending was a fun time. Now for putting things to practice... (to be continued)

GORUCK Heavy 039 -- Chicago -- After Action Review (AAR)

This past weekend I had an opportunity to travel to the windy city to complete an event I had not previously heard of -- GORUCK Heavy. This AAR is not intended to be an overview of events that occurred or even a "review" of how the event was conducted. I intend, rather, to discuss what worked well for me and what didn't, and perhaps a bit about what I would do different when faced with adversity such as this again.

The event page touts GORUCK as "the ultimate team building" event, covering 35+ miles in 24+ hours. This is no joke, it turns out, as Saturday evening we finished the event with 40.2 miles coming in at 26 hours and 5 minutes. What occurred during those hours was some of the most gritty, frustrating, uncomfortable madness I've experienced to date.

n.b. I'm no stranger to endurance events. In fact, the past few weekends I've covered 400+ miles of dirt and road biking. These, however, were individual endurance events. In this case, 42 of us were required to work together and a theme ran through the entire day's work -- we were never stronger than our weakest man. This meant it was critical to work together, for better or for worse, in order to get things done. As a pretty introverted, independent guy, this was massively taxing on my ability to put up with the suck.

I work best with structure, so let's outline 3 things that worked well, that I enjoyed, and that were positive aspects of the event followed by what didn't work, what sucked a lot, and was negative:

"+"

1. Master Sargent Andy is The Man -- From the beginning introductions, I knew this event was in good hands. There were other Cadre (who we later learned were leading their first "Heavys") but Cadre Andy (hereby, "Top") was clearly top dawg and a keystone of the entire event. An eloquently spoken, combat-decorated marine, Top told story after story of unbelievable situations he's encountered in his 20 years as a Recon Marine. His amusing, off-the-wall demeanor combined with sternness and experience was entertaining. As Top's bio reads, his three loves are Freedom, Family, and America, and by the end many of us began to relate. As for his love of America, the event was partially structured by rucking to several key monuments in the Chicago area where Top would give us a recap of the person's contribution to American history. He knew his shit and rarely used notes to boot. While it was mentally taxing to listen while sleep deprived, his dynamic personality was engaging (and frankly I was scared out of my mind to let me catch me snoozing). In short, Top made this event what it was and to have him as our cadre was a privilege.

2. United We Stand, Divided We Fall -- Our team comprised of 42 people with ranging ages from ~20-40, including two females, one (6th grade) teacher, several marines and a few army folks. Our crew covered the gamut as far as experience with GORUCK, with several having never completed an event, many having done a few, and several having many others under their belt. Meeting these folks and sharing this experience was rewarding, and I'm glad to have done the event with them. One thing I noticed was how people changed from beginning to end, and how difficult it is to keep your guard up when you've had your ass handed to you for 16+ hours. In short, I got to know new people quite well in a short period of time, and saw a side of my best friends that I hadn't seen previously.

3. What's Past is Prologue -- As mentioned before, history of America was a major theme of the event, which was fitting for Memorial Day weekend. I also enjoyed the "dismount" explanation of GORUCK bridging the civilian/military gap. We were brought slightly closer to what many before us have experienced for much longer periods of time. Hearing about this hardship, then living a small part of it, was special. Full disclosure: as a result of this my "Freedom Boner" (Top's term, not mine) is alive and well. Additionally, given Top's background with being a medic, we learned certain techniques of caring for those wounded in battle. This was difficult to hear at times (and I'm not usually squeamish) but the content was legit and again made me grateful for those that take a (violent) stand for the greater good of our principality.

"-"

1. Amphibious Reconnaissance -- I expected to get wet during the event, but the extent to which we would simulate actually taking a beach I underestimated. I don't want to spoil any "secret sauce" but it will suffice to say we got sandy and it really sucked. The breaking point was learning, shivering as the sun came up, that my dry change of clothes was soaking wet and sandy inside of the zip lock/grocery double-bag I had configured. To anyone reading this prior to completion: bring a proper waterproof setup. At this point in the event, I was exhausted -- the water was cold and I was sandy and the "team building" exercises tickled a spot in me that has not been agitated before. I was vulnerable, and to be honest, I almost said uncle. I'm glad I didn't, it was rewarding to finish, but I learned that I really, really don't like the feeling of being sandy, tired, wet, fatigued, and sleep deprived and that I really, really need to stop being such a pussy when faced with this sort of hardship and just grin and bear it because it's going to end and I'm going to be on my couch again doing mindless bullshit in the very near future.

2. Thoughts --> Destiny -- If I could do this event again, I would go in being more mindful of my "self-talk." Frankly, I did too much bitching, and spent too much time feeling sorry for myself. Indeed, it was terrible at times, but every time I bitched about it only propelled me the opposite direction from where I needed to be going. Physically, I could take it. Mentally, I was not where I needed to be and a huge take away from this is to limit self-shame at all costs and just stick it out for the greater benefit both collectively and individually.

3. Teamwork: Easier said than done. -- What at this point seems trifling, the team weight that was improvised for our class because the cadre could not find a log was a chintzy substitute. Instead of carrying a log, we filled a bag with wet sand (~400 lbs) carried it on a stretcher followed by ~800 other pounds of ridiculous objects distributed throughout the procession. Carrying this was just awful, and we could only fit 3 people on each side of the team weight stretcher so this meant taking shifts. Many people gave up and stayed in the back of our procession (behavior in marine terms known as "cheesedicking"), and refused to take shifts in with the weight. If I would do this event again, I would hope that there would be a more manageable team weight.. but perhaps that goes back to my bitching problem. More appropriately, perhaps, if I were to do this again I would strategize more effectively about to take shifts, save energy, and foster encouragement. The team weight was truly the crux of our crew's disagreements (arguments) throughout the event.

Overall: I'm glad I completed the Heavy. We saw a lot of the city, and I pushed myself further than I thought possible. Top was motivating, and I learned quite a lot about military history and medical techniques I wouldn't know otherwise. I also got the opportunity to stay in touch with my best friends from high school which now live in other cities. I'd have to think long and hard about signing up for another (I am eyeing the one in Boulder...), but in any case I am starting to look into other endurance events (i.e. ultra marathons) to complete this summer. This event has influenced how I will prepare for those events and the experience overall was formative and memorial.

Post: This was shared with me by my friend, Craig Shaver, a combat-decorated marine veteran. What a fitting expression of what it means to be a leader.

NCO Creed

I am an NCO dedicated to training new Marines and influencing the old. I am forever conscious of each Marine under my charge, and by example will inspire them to the highest standards possible. I will strive to be patient, understanding, just, and firm. I will commend the deserving and encourage the wayward. I will never forget that I am responsible to my Commanding Officer for the morale, discipline, and efficiency of my Men. Their performance will reflect an image of me.

 Sauce: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noncommissioned_officer%27s_creed

1 mo to goruck heavy

CrossFit thurs

Push press
3,3,3,3,3
For load 205 (technique focus)

4 rft w partner
Row 300
Push press 185# x 5 reps
Rest was partners 300m row
For total time ~10 min

Bike ride Friday

Saturday am wod

Power clean heavy doubles up to 235
Then
30 reps for time
Power clean 225#
For time 10:16

Daily RPT
Sore. Okay diet this week. Seeing progress in strength and endurance. Focus this week is diet and consistent rucking times.